Machine for trimming and molding heel covers



July 3%, 1935. N. H. KNOWLTON MACHINE FOR TRIMMING AND MOLDING HEELCOVERS Filed NOV. 13, 1933 3 Shgets-Sheet l MMWTM? WM M July 30, 1935.N. H. KNOWLTON MACHINE FOR TRIMMING AND MOLDING HEEL COVERS 3Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 13, 1953 pg w 1 y 1935. N. H. KNOWLTON MACHINEFOR TRIMMING AND MOLDING HEEL COVERS Filed Nov. 13, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet5 k0 gw Patented July 30, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MACHINE FORTRIMMING AND MOLDING HEEL COVERS Application November 13, 1933, SerialNo. 697,765

\ 13 Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of shoes and is illustrated asembodied in a machine for operating upon heel covers.

In covering Louis heels of the type disclosed in United States LettersPatent No. 1,861,662, granted June '7, 1932 on an application filed inmy name, it is customary as described in said patent to inturn theforwardly projecting margins of a side cover of a heel upon the lateralportions of the breast of the heel and to tuck the edge portions of themargins into cover-receiving grooves which are cut in the breast of theheel and extend heightwise of the heel along the breast edges of thesame, the top projecting margin of the side cover being inturned uponand secured to the attaching face of the heel.

Each of the cover-receiving grooves terminates at an upper breast cornerof the heel and breaks through the front end of the relatively thinforwardly projecting lip of the heel and thus forms a notch in the lip,a thin sliver being left between an adjacent side of the heel and thenotch.

During the heel-covering operation, each of the slivers is covered byinserting the top part of the forwardly projecting cover margin throughthe notch and into opposed relation to the top cover margin which hasbeen laid upon the attaching face of the heel. In order to brace thesliver against being broken, the opposed margins of the cover, afterbeing pulled around the sliver, are cemented together under pressure andare also cemented to the attaching face of the heel. The opposedportions of the projection margins of the cover are then trimmed aslight distance ahead of the forward edge of the lip of the heel inorder to insure that the upper breast corner portions of the heel blankare covered and to provide a lip which, as viewed from the side of theheel, is

wedge-shaped and merges gracefully with the shoe upper.

It is common practice for the operator to trim the portions of theopposed marginsof the cover which project forwardly of the lip of theheel by a pair of hand shears and then to squeeze together the remainingopposed margins to which cement has been appliedby a pair of tweezersconstructed to enter the notch. The hand operation is slow and itfrequently happens that a careless operator breaks one of the sliversfrom the heel and thus spoils the same.

The general object of the present invention is to provide a machine bywhich the manual performance of these and similar operations may beobviated. To this end, in accordance with one feature of the invention,there is provided a machine for operating upon a shoe part, superposedmargins of a cover of which project beyond an edge thereof, havingtrimming mechanism, pressing mechanism, means for facilitating presentation of the shoe part to said mechanisms, and means for operating saidmechanisms to trim the margins to a predetermined length and to pressthe trimmed margins together. In the'illustrated machine, which isparticularly adapted to operate upon a covered heel having a notch inits lip, a support or table carries gages for locating the heel properlywith respect to a reciprocating cutter and a reciprocating presser whichis shaped and arranged to enter the notch, said cutter and presser beingcaused to operate in the 'order named to trim the superposed projectingmargin of the cover and to press it against the support.

The illustrated presser member is electrically heated in order tofacilitatethe molding of the leather, fabric or celluloid cover duringthe pressing operation. To increase the speed of the machine, right andleft units are provided to which the margins projecting beyond the upperleft and right breast edges of heels respectively may besimultaneouslypresented to be operated upon.

With the illustrated construction folded-over projecting margins of heelcovers may be quickly and effectively trimmed to a predetermined lengthand adhesively pressed together, the. heel being accurately positionedrelatively to the presser member and rigidly supported during thepressing operation to insure against breaking the sliver.

These and other features of the invention, including certain details ofconstruction and combinations of parts, will be described as embodied inan illustrated machine and pointed out in th claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the illustrated machine, a heel beingshown in position to be operated upon in the machine;

Fig. 2 shows a vertical section of the machine taken along line 11-11 ofFig. 3;

Fig. 3 is a detail plan view of the operating head of the machine,portions of which have been broken away; a

Fig. 4 is a detail view showing a heel and projecting margins of itsattached cover presented to the machine;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a wood heel blank which is to becovered;

I Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing the heel blank after a side coverhas been appliedthereto and Fig. '7 is a perspective view of the heelportion of an inverted shoe.

The machine is described with reference to heels such as disclosed inthe above-mentioned United States Letters Patent No. 1,861,662. Incovering a Louis heel blank 20 the breast 22 of which is provided withcover-receiving grooves 2% arranged in substantially parallel relationto corresponding breast edges of the heel and terminating at the upperbreast corners 26 of the heel, it is customary to apply a single pieceof covering material 28 to therear and side faces of the heel, whichmaterial is commonly referred to as a side cover. After the side cover23 has been secured to the rear and side facesof the heel, the top, theforward, and the bottom projecting margins 39, 32 and 34 of the coverare inturned upon and secured to the attaching, the breast, and thetoplift-receiving faces 36, 22 and 38, respectively, .of the heel, theend portions of the forwardly projecting margins 32 being tucked intoand secured within corresponding grooves 24.

It will be noted that the Louis heel blank 20 is provided with .aforwardly projecting lip 45! which is relatively thin andthat the upperend of the groove breaks through the lip toform a notch 42, athinsliver. i l'being left between the side of the heel and the notch 42.The forward projecting margin 32 of the cover extends through the notch42 (Fig. 6) and above the attachingface 36 of the heel in opposedrelation to the top projecting margin 38 of the cover. After the coveredheel has been attached to the shoe (Fig. 7) the lateral margins of aheel-breast covering flap 46 which is split from the sole 48 of a shoe41, to which theheel is attached, are tucked into the grooves 24alongside thetuckedin margins of the side cover 28.

Before attaching the partially covered heel to the shoe upper :37 it iscustomary for the operator by the use of a pair of shears to trim theopposed margins 30, 32 which project forwardly of the front edge 59 ofthe lip 48 of the heel, to a pre lateral portions of'the edge 49 of thelip 40 in order that such portions of the heel blank 29' may be coveredin the finished shoe. Moreover, a small quantity of cement is appliedbetween the opposed margins 36, 32, the margins being squeezed together;by a'pair of hand-operated tweezers which engage within the notch 62 ofthe groove 24 in order to draw the cover tightly around the sliver 44,the opposed margins then being cemented tothe attaching face 36 of theheel. The sliver 44 is therefore supported by the cover against beingbroken from the heel, and the forward upper breast corners of thecovered heel terminate ,in feather edges which merge gracefullywith theshoe upper When the above-described operation is performed by hand theoperator sometimes cuts the opposing projecting margins too close to theedge of the sliver and thereby causes the upper breast corners of theheel blank to be exposed to View in the finished shoe. Moreover, inwrapping the cover about the sliver 44 and cementing the opposed margins33 '32 together the'operator frequently splits the same from the heel.

The illustrated machine, which may beused effectively and quickly toperform the trimming and molding operation, is provided withia presserfoot or member 50 which is mounted for vertical movement and is ofsuitable shape to enter the notch 42 of the groove 24 and to press theopposed marginal portions 30, 32 against a block 52 which forms part ofa support or table 5 upon which the heel is placed attaching face 36downwardly.

The table 54 is bored to receive the block 52 which is provided with aconvex surface 56 (Fig. 1) arranged to project above the table 5 3 andhaving a curvature generally complemental to that of the attaching face35 of the heel in order effectively to support the sam and theprojecting portions of the opposed margins 3Q, 32. The illustratedblock'52 is provided with an opening 58, a curved edge 60 of the blockserving as a shearing edge past which a vertically moving cutter orknife 52 maybe moved to trim the projecting margins 30, 32 a shortdistance forwardly of the front edge 49 of the attaching face 36 of theheel. Blocks having heel-supporting surfaces 56 of various shapes may besubstituted for the illustrated block 52 in accordance with the shape ofthe work being operated upon in the machine.

The machine is provided with right and left stations or units A and B(Fig. 3) constructed and arranged to operate upon the upper left andright corners of heels, respectively. In describing the machine it willbe necessary to describe but one of the stations, it being borne in mindthat for each part of one station the other has an opposed butcorresponding part.

In order to position the heel upon the table 54 so that the notch 42 ofthe roove 24 is arranged beneath the presser foot 53 and the forwardedge 49 of the attaching face 36 is arranged close to but spaced fromthe shearing edge 60 of the block 52, the illustrated machine isprovided with gages 64, 66 and 68. The gages 64 and 66 may be adjustedin directions indicated by arrows 69 (Fig. 1) relatively to the table 54through screw and slot connections and [2, respectively, such gagesbeing positioned for engagement with spaced portions of the side of theheel which are located adjacent to the attaching face 36. The gage orabutment 68 is arranged for engagement with the forward edge 49 of theattaching face 36 of the heel and may be adjusted in directionsindicated by arrows 14 through the provision of screw and slotconnections 15.

The presser feet 50 are carried by a housing 18 which ispivotally'mounted upon a rod 80 journaled in a bracket 82, the bracketbeing adjustable relatively to the table 54 in directions indicated byarrows 84 upon release of screws 86 which pass through elongated slots88 formed in the bracket.

Each of the pressure feet 50 is clamped by a screw 90 (Fig. 3) to ashank piece 92 which is pivoted about the stem of a screw 94 carried bya dome portion 96 of the housing 78. Each of the presser feet '50 may bepivotally adjusted about the screw 94 by moving screws 98, I00, the endportions of which engage the housing 18, in opposite directions, inaccordance with the location of the notch 42 of the heel positioned uponthe table 54. The cutter 62 is of arcuate shape and has a cutting edgewhich is substantially complemental to the shearing edge 60 of the block62 and severs work which may be simultaneously presented to stations Aand B. The illustrated cutter 62 is secured to a slide I82 (Fig. 2)which is mounted for reciprocation in a vertically disposed guideway I04of the machine and is operated through a link I06 by a treadle I88 (Fig.1). The slide 32 is normally held in a raised position by'a spring Hethe upper end of which is secured to'the main frame and the lower end ofwhich'is'mounted for movement with a collar I09 adjustably secured by ascrew ill to the link' through an elongated recess H6 of the housing 78,the housing at all times being held against a stud H8, secured to theslide Hi2, by a spring iii!) surrotmding the pin l2 and having its'upperend in engagement with a nut 122 carried by the pin l I 2 and its lowerend in engagement with a washer F24 surrounding the pin and overridingthe recess H6. With such an arrangement it will be clear that as theoperator depresses the treadle let the cutter 62 cooperates with theshearingedge 50 to sever the projecting marginal portions 39, 32 of thecover and that upon continued downward movement of the slide I92 thepresser members 59 engage within the respective notches 52 or" thegrooves 24 and press the folded-over margins against the surfaces 55 ofthe block 52, the spring I29 being compressed.

by movement of the slide I02 during such operation. The recess H5 is ofsuiiicient diameter to permit reciprocation of the slide I92 and pivotalmovement of the housing 13. Downward movement of the slide M2 is limitedby a screw 25 which is adjustably mounted in the main frame, upwardmovement of the slide E92 under pressure of the spring being limited bya collar $28 secured by a screw I29 (Fig. 1) to the slide. The machineframe may be conveniently mounts upon a pedestal 839 or upon any otherconvenient support.

In order to facilitate the molding of the cover which may be made ofleather, fabric or celluloid the housing '88 is bored to receive aheating unit 532 (Fig. 2) having connections I3 3.

In order to perform the trimming and the molding operation the operator,after properly adjusting the gages cs, St and 68 and the presser members59 positions the heel in unit A, as illustrated in Fig. 3 and steps onthe treadle I98 to trim opposing projecting margins 38, 32 at one uppercorner of the heel to a desired length and then to cause the pressermember 50 to enter the notch 42 of the groove 24 to force the marginsagainst the table 54 thereby to wrap the cover around the sliver M andadhesively to secure the margins to each other. The heel is then removedfrom station A and is positioned in station E to perform a similaroperation upon opposed margins 30, 32 which are located adjacent to theother upper corner of the heel. It will be noted that opposed marginsextending from the right and left upper corners of two heelsrespectively may be trimmed and molded during a single cycle ofoperation of the machine when two heels are presented to units A and Bof the machine, as

illustrated in Fig. 3.

Having described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A machine for operating upon a shoe part, superposed margins of acover of which project beyond the edge thereof, having in combination,trimming mechanism, pressing mechanism, means for facilitatingpresentation of the shoe part to said mechanisms, and means foroperating said mechanisms to trim the margins to a predetermined lengthand to press them together.

2. A machine for trimming and molding covers of heels having, incombination, a support for a heel opposing margins of an attached coverof which'project beyond the" heel, gages for positioning the heel andsaidmargins rela' tively to thesupport, a cutter for trimming themargins to a predetermined length, a presser member for forcing themargins together, and means for operating the cutter and the pressermember. j I 1 3. A machine for 'trimming' and molding covers of heelshaving, in combination, a cutter, a presser member, a support for heelto which a cover has been applied, gages for positioning the heel andfolded-over margins of the cover which project beyond the heel upon thesupport relatively to the cutter and the presser member, and means foroperating the cutter to trim the projecting margins to a predeterminedlength and heel, mechanismior positioning" the heel upon the support, acutter constructed and arranged to trimprojecting margins of the coveradjacent to the corner, and a presser member constructed andarranged'for engagement within the notch adjacent to the corner forforcing portions of the cover which are in opposed relation against thetable. 7

5. A machine for trimming-and molding covers of heels having, incombination, a table, gages for positioning upon the support a Louisheel provided with a cover one marginal portion of which passes throughand projects beyond a notch formed in the '.lip portioncr" the breastofthe heel and is in folded-over relation with respect to a covermargininturned upon the attaching face of the heel, a, cutter for trimmingparts of theifoldedover margins of thejcover which extend forwardly ofthe lip portion of the heel to a predetermined length, and a pressermember constructed and arranged for engagement within the notch to pressthe folded-over margins positioned in the vicinity of one of the upperbreast corners of the heel against the table.

6. A machine for trimming and molding covers of heels having, incombination, a member for supporting a Louis heel provided with a partwhich is included between a side of the heel and a notch cut in theupper projecting portion of the breast of the heel and around which acover having margins projecting beyond the heel has been wrapped, acutter for cooperating with the member to trim margins of the coverwhich project forwardly of the lip of the heel to a predeterminedlength, and a presser member shaped and arranged for movement throughthe notch to force margins of the cover which are wrapped heel, acutter, said member and said cutter being mounted for movementrelatively to the support, and mechanism constructed and arranged tooperate the member with yielding pressure to force said portionstogether and positively to operate the cutter relatively to the support'to trim said portions to a predetermined length.

8. A machine for trimming and molding covers of heels having,incombination, a support, a member for forcing opposed margins of acover wrapped around a heel part formed between a side of the heel and anotch formed in the forwardly projecting lip of the heel against thesupport, a cutter for trimming opposed margins of the cover whichproject beyond the lip of the heel to a predetermined length, and meansconstructed and arranged first to operate the cutter to sever theprojecting margins and then to move the presser member through the notchto secure together opposing cover margins to which cement has beenapplied.

9'. A trimming and molding machine having, in combination, a table forsupporting a heel provided with an attached cover folded-over margins ofwhich project beyond the heel, said table having a shearing edge, gagesfor positioning the heel and the projecting margins of the coverrelatively to the table, a presser member, a cutter, and mechanism formoving the cutter past the shearing edge to trim the folded-overprojecting margins to a predetermined length and to force the pressermember against the folded-over margins supported by the table thereby topress the same to a feather edge, said presser members being mounted forpivotal and rectilinear adjustment for positioning the same relativelyto the table.

10. A machine for trimming and molding covers of heels having, incombination, a support, gages for positioning upon the support a Louisheel provided with a cover a forward margin of which passes through andprojects beyond a notch formed in the projecting lip of the breast ofthe heel and is arranged in'folded-over relation with respect to amargin of the cover inturned upon the attaching face of the heel, acutter for trimming the folded-over margins of the cover which projectforwardly of the lip of the heel to a predetermined length, a pressermember constructed and arranged to pass through the opening for pressingthe folded-over margins against the table, mechanism for operating thecutter, a carrier for the presser members, and yieldable connectionsbetween said mechanism and the carrier.

11. In a machine for trimming and molding covers of heels, a supporthaving a shearing edge, a cutter mounted for reciprocation past saidedge, a pair of presser members positioned adjacent to the cutter, acarrier for said presser members, said carrier being mounted forswinging movement toward and away from the support, means for operatingthe cutter, and yielding connections between said means and the carrier.

12. In a machine for trimming and molding covers of heels, a supporthaving a shearing edge, a cutter mounted for reciprocation past saidedge, a pair of presser members positioned adjacent to the cutter, acarrier for said presser members,

said carrier being mounted for swinging movement toward and away fromthe support, a slide for operating the cutter, and yielding connectionsbetween the slide and the carrier, said carrier being adjustablerelatively to the cutter and the presser members being pivotallyadjustable relatively to the carrier.

13. In a machine for trimming and molding covers of heels, a supporthaving a convex surface which terminates in a shearing edge, a cuttermovable past said edge, a presser member movable relatively to saidsurface, gages for positioning a heel and folded-over projecting marginsof the cover attached to the same upon the support, and means foroperating the cutter and the presser member relatively to the supportthereby to trim thefolded over projecting margins to a predeterminedlength and to press remaining portions of said margins against theconvex surface.

NORWOOD H. KNOWLTON.

